CHICAGO >> Andrew Heaney has stalled in his rehab from a forearm injury, leaving the Angels still unsure of how quickly he can come back.

“He’s hit a little bit of a plateau,” Manager Mike Scioscia said Tuesday. “No real setbacks, but it’s moving at its own pace. It’s going in the right direction, but we don’t have a timetable for when we’re going to see him on the mound.”

As recently as Friday, Heaney said he was “getting better every day.”

Heaney, who has been out for two weeks with a flexor muscle strain, has been throwing for about a week. Scioscia said that he’s still feeling some discomfort when he increases the intensity, though.

“When he’s starting to get on it a little bit, there is still a little tightness there,” Scioscia said. “It’s something you can’t force your way through. It’s way better than it was when he first did it, but it’s not to the point where you can get a definite timeline for where his long-toss might be and when he gets on the mound.”

Nick Tropeano, who replaced Heaney in the rotation, has allowed just one run in 10 2/3 innings in his two starts.

Angels not best fit

Apparently the Angels were willing to spend some money to get an established outfielder in the offseason.

Problem was, Austin Jackson didn’t want it.

Jackson confirmed Tuesday the Angels did offer him around $5 million to $6 million early in spring training, before he signed with the Chicago White Sox for $5 million.

“I had to make a decision with one team and (the White Sox) were a better option for me when I weighed my options,” Jackson said. “I’m familiar with the AL Central. I had played in a lot of the stadiums before and faced a lot of the pitchers before.”

Jackson spent the first five years of his career with the Detroit Tigers. He also spent just over one year playing with the Seattle Mariners, the end of 2014 and most of 2015.

The White Sox also offered Jackson something the Angels could not: the chance to play center field. Jackson has played 849 games in center field and only four in left, where the Angels would presumably have used him.

Much to the dismay of many Angels fans, the club stayed out of the bidding for the marquee outfielders, such as Yoenis Cespedes, Justin Upton and Jason Heyward. Instead, the Angels signed Daniel Nava for $1.38 million and Craig Gentry for $1 million.

Owner Arte Moreno had said the Angels, by their estimates, were within a few million of exceeding the $189 million luxury tax threshold. Had Jackson accepted their offer, they likely either would have surpassed the threshold or had to cut payroll elsewhere.

Also

Geovany Soto has caught all three of Hector Santiago’s starts this season. Scioscia acknowledged that there seems to be a good relationship between the two, so he has intentionally kept them together. However, he added that he will mix in Carlos Perez with Santiago. … C.J. Wilson, who is rehabbing from shoulder trouble, is throwing at a distance of 90 feet in Arizona, Scioscia said. Wilson needs to get his long-toss out to at least 150 feet before he can begin throwing off a mound. Wilson is at least a month away from potentially returning to the Angels rotation. … Ji-Man Choi, a Rule 5 pick, has batted just eight times and played just 10 innings in the field in the Angels’ first 13 games. Scioscia said they are trying to find spots to get him some more action, but the opportunities haven’t arisen because they have been facing so many left-handed pitchers lately. Scioscia also said Choi isn’t enough of an upgrade defensively over C.J. Cron at first to be worth using as a defensive replacement, in most cases.

Jeff Fletcher has covered the Angels since 2013. Before that, he spent 11 years covering the Giants and A's and working as a national baseball writer. Jeff is a Hall of Fame voter. In 2015, he was elected chairman of the Los Angeles chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

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